According to this data, more than $9.3 million was stolen from 790 victims in the province in 2022, compared to $4.8 million lost by 643 people in 2021.

More than a third of the money lost, or about $3.3 million, was stolen from seniors, the data shows. Otherwise, about every third victim is an elderly person.

In 2022, fraud and scams have reached significant levels in Canada, accounting for more than $529 million unfairly extorted from around 37,000 people, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center notes.

Ontario is the hardest-hit province, with about 11,110 people losing more than $213 million.

Diversified forms supported by technology

Natalia Stakhova, Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan, is not surprised to learn of this increase in fraud. In her opinion, technology will make the phenomenon much easier.

She also observes that due to the difficult economic situation, people seek refuge there to face the crisis.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Center notes that investment and cryptocurrency scams were most profitable in Saskatchewan, raking in more than $2.9 million and involving 65 people.

However, most people are affected by scams based on collecting personal information. Last year, 121 people from Saskatchewan died.

In such a situation, an individual poses as a representative of an organization and collects personal information such as name, address, account information, or social security number. The scammer can then use them for identity theft purposes, according to the Anti-Fraud Center website.

However, the anti-fraud center does not report any amount of money lost due to this type of fraud.

Unsolicited Calls

Scammers base their strategy on unsolicited phone calls to trick their victims.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) receives many complaints about unsolicited calls.

Last year, about 39,900 complaints were received from across Canada, including 511 from Saskatchewan residents.

THE CRTC was able to link nearly two-thirds of calls from Saskatchewan to a known fraud or telemarketing campaign.

Most of the calls from Saskatchewan involved fraud.

These calls included not only scammers posing as employees of a bank, company or government agency, but also Mandarin-language calls aimed at the Asian community.

However, call volume from Saskatchewan is lower than other provinces because this province is not affected by large telemarketing campaigns.

Jeff Horncastle, acting director of clients and communications for the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center, says only 5 or 10 percent of people report fraud to the center, so the current data doesn’t reflect reality.

According to Professor Natalia Stakhova, the numbers suggest there is a lack of awareness of these scams.

It is for this reason that Mr Horncastle also encourages people to educate themselves and their loved ones.

It shows the amount of work we all have to do trying to educate each other.he said.

It is frighteninghe is arguing.

With information from Nicholas Frew